Last Day

Friday was our last day at the Disneyland Resort. We got up and checked out of our room, then walked around Downtown Disney and the Parks, mostly trading vinylmations, but I did talk the family into riding the Fun Wheel in California Adventure.

In the evening, we walked through the elecTRONica area in California Adventure, then headed north.

Southern Californian friends

As a kid, I always enjoyed going into the preview gallery in Disneyland to see what might be coming to the park. Recently they added a "Blue Sky Cellar" to California Adventure to show the ongoing changes. Above is a picture of the new Carsland from the patio outside the preview center.

Wednesday night Bryan and I visited Excelsior Chapter in Norwalk.

Yesterday we were joined at the resort by friends from Temecula. We watched the new show projected onto Small World. It was pretty good, although of course nowhere near as impressive as Fantasmic! or World of Color.

California Adventure

A nice feature of the new wing of the Grand California is the observation deck. From it you can get pretty nice views of California Adventure, although mostly of the Paradise Pier area. Here is a shot that shows the new Little Mermaid ride building in the foreground, and the Carsland mountains in the back.

Two of the restaurants of Paradise Pier are being completely redone.

Tuesday night, Bryan and I went to a DeMolay meeting in Yorba Linda. Afterwards we went with the Chapter to ice cream, and Bryan visited with the Region 8 Cabinet Member.

Disneyland

On Saturday morning, we loaded up the car and headed south to California. After a stopover for the night, we arrived at the Disneyland Resort, where we checked into the Grand Californian Hotel. Our room had a park view, but it was on the second floor and partly obscured by trees.

We headed into parks, catching a viewing of Fantasmic! at Disneyland then checking out the Electronica stuff in California Adventure.

This morning we headed into California Adventure and picked up some Fastpasses for World of Color. There's lots of work going on in this park. The revision to the swing ride is pretty nice. It used to be surrounded by a structure, and removing that makes it a lot more fun.

It also makes for better views of the park, including parts that are currently being remodeled. This shot, showing an area near the Grand California being redone, was taken from the Zephyr ride. In the afternoon we headed into Disneyland. After dinner, we watched World of Color.